


of Ram Wine and Shitty Sperm Donors

by Ellisama



Category: Fire Emblem Echoes: Mou Hitori no Eiyuu Ou | Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Genre: Gen, Set during arc 4, Spoilers for Sonya's parentage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-16 15:56:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11832066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellisama/pseuds/Ellisama
Summary: After barely escaping the fight with Jedah with their lives, Celica's army sits down to enjoy a drink or two (or more) and two women find out they have more in common than they had ever imagined.





	of Ram Wine and Shitty Sperm Donors

“You never mentioned he was your father,” Celica uttered discretely, hoping that the crackling of the campfire and the ale-induced small talk from her party would drown out the sound to anyone but the woman next to her.

“You never asked,” Sonya answered matter-of-factly, her eyes never meeting Celica’s while expertly twirling a half-empty wineglass between her fingers she had personally emptied and refilled plenty of times tonight. 

She wasn’t the only one. Tomorrow they would go into Duma’s tower, a challenge unlike anything they had ever faced before, and after today’s encounter with a seemingly unbeatable Jedah, her companions were more than keenly aware of their own mortality. The only remedy to that realization seemed to drown it in alcohol, though Celica herself did not join in. 

The encounter hadn’t just left her with her own dilemma, but also revealed a painful truth about Sonya’s parentage. Celica wouldn’t ever have guessed that the lunatic was related to Sonya if it hadn’t been for their short argument, quickly followed by some particular fearsome magic from both sides. She’d never seen Sonya quite so deadly, and considering the journey behind them, that was quite telling. Sonya had always had a careless act about her casting, as if the enemy was merely a temporary entertainment to her. Never before had her eyes alone been able to kill a lesser man, nor had her spells been this frighteningly powerful. 

All of that was gone now though, hidden beneath a perfectly constructed mask of causality, and drowned in plenty of Ram Wine. It was that very same liquid that loosened her tongue. “Besides, it takes more than just blood to be called a father. He was never there for us when we needed him, growing up. And after what he did to my sisters…” Sonya’s cheerful voice didn’t match her words, but Celica could see the way her knuckles turned white around her wineglass when she downed the remainder of her drink in one go. “We were never more than pawns to him, conceived to be sacrificed at the right time. He’s no father of mine,” she finished brusquely. 

“I’m sorry I asked,” Celica apologized with a slight bow. 

Sonya shrugged, and Celica pretended not to see the pain behind the woman’s eyes. “Why? It’s not your fault he was a shitty man. Besides, from what I’ve heard you’ve had your own share of terrible sperm donors.” 

“Sonya!” Celica exclaimed, her cheeks the shade of a tomato at the mere thought of addressing her royal father in such a way.

Around her, more than one eavesdropper burst out in laughter.

“To shitty sperm donors!” Exclaimed Saber, raising his cup to a toast. More than half the group joined him with wry smiles of their own. 

Celica decidedly looked the other way, displeased at the display. “Don’t you think I should… forgive him?”

“Should we?” To her surprise, it was Conrad who spoke up with an uncharacteristic amount of disdain. He had been hovering close to her all evening, trying to get her to speak about her conversation with Jedah. “He was, by all accounts, a terrible man. I’ve never heard anyone speak kindly of him, and he was king no less. He forced my mother from her homeland and into his harem just so her people could eat, only to be discarded once he found a new toy. He might have granted us a luxurious childhood, but he never came to visit us, did he now?” Even though she was happy to have her brother back, it was easy to forget that they did in fact share the same father. To hear him speak like this was harsh, but liberating all the same.

And she realized he was right, as he often tended to be. But that didn’t make the truth hurt any less. “And when he died, nobody mourned him. Neither did I, honestly, I was glad he was gone,” Celica admitted with a heavy heart. “But I feel awful for thinking that.” 

She had never made a secret of her dislike for her father before, but now that the crown laid heavily on her own head, she understood the man a bit better. Nobody wanted this life, and if it had been forced upon her from birth, tempted with luxury from the day she was born, would she really have been so much different? 

Sonya let out a sharp laugh, one without any mirth. “The only reason I’m glad that man isn’t dead yet, is because I want to be the one to put an end to him. Though I’ll settle for being there to see the light fade from his eyes.”

For a second, Celica was afraid that the woman was going to crush the wineglass between her fingertips to demonstrate what she would like to do to her father’s spine. But then the moment passed, and instead Sonya refilled her glass, offering it to Celica.

“Come on, try it,” she urged, all but pushing the glass into her hands. “If not tonight, then when?”

“I’m a priestess!” Celica protested in vain.

Sonya looked at her disbelievingly. “Yes, _of Mila_ , who encouraged indulgence in young women, if I’m to believe the stories.”

If the stories were to be believed, Mila encouraged a whole lot more than just underaged drinking in women, so Celica let that argument die before it backfired into a conversation of unmarried intercourse. 

Defeated, she accepted the glass. Sonya was right, even though she didn’t know quite the extent of it. If not now, then never. With that resolve in mind, Celica took a small, careful sip. It wasn’t as strong as she had imagined it, nor did she feel a sudden urge to join Saber in a song about his father. But it didn’t make her feel any less alone, either.

When she turned back to Sonya, she had a faraway look in her eyes, as if entranced by a vision only she could see in the campfire.

“I did feel like you, once upon a time. Everyone wants to love their parents, deep down. Yes, even me. But sometimes there just isn’t anything to love. You’re a wonderful woman, Celica, and if he never was there to see that, than that is his loss, not yours.” And for the first time since they had met, Sonya willingly touched her shoulder in a gesture of comfort. It was as short as it was meaningful, and when it ended it had both women slightly redder than before. 

“Mah, look at me, waxing poetry and dishing out words of wisdom. Too much of this fancy ram wine in my system. I’m off to bed before any of you start telling me your sob stories like I’m your mother or something,” Sonya exclaimed, her face contorted as if she had tasted something very bitter, and got up shakingly.

“I can escort you there, my dear!” Jesse offered with a drunken leer.

“Not a chance in hell, pretty boy. I’m drunk, not desperate.”

**Author's Note:**

> Done as a request on Tumblr, but I liked it so much I decided to post it here as well. Kudo if you headcanon that Mila organized lesbian orgies in her temple. Just kidding, just kidding. (But isn't it convenient to say the very least that all of her attendants were female though?)   
> Mila is put in a far better light than her brother, but at the end they were both corrupt as all hell. Besides the cut-scene, I wish there had been more of that in the game. Anyway, I enjoyed this request a lot, and it grew to be quite a bit more than the 300 words I had originally in mind for these requests. Oh well.   
> (To those interested, my pregnancy is going not nearly as bad as my hubby had feared beforehand. I'm pretty bedridden due to complications, so that sucks, but the baby is totally fine and we've got a great healthcare system in my country so I am well taken care of.)


End file.
